• being of the age of eighteen years or over and
• a citizen of good repute in the community,
• is the lineal descendant of an ancestor
  • who was at all times unfailing in loyalty to and
  • rendered active service in,
  the cause of American independence, either as an
  • officer,
  • soldier,
  • seaman,
  • marine,
  • militiaman or
  • Minuteman,
  in the armed forces
  • of the Continental Congress,
  • of any one of the several Colonies or States;
• or as a Signer of the Declaration of Independence,
• or as a member of a Committee of Safety or Correspondence;
• or as a member of any
  • Continental,
  • Provincial, or
  • Colonial Congress or Legislature;
• or as a recognized patriot who performed actual service by overt acts of resistance to the authority of Great Britain.

No preliminary decision will be given on a line of descent, service or evidentiary value of proposed evidence. (When examined with all available evidence, such preliminary decision might prove to be incorrect and the National Society cannot accept responsibility for such a decision.)